The Great Ziegfeld (1936) on Netflix
At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. promotes the strongman Sandow and bests his rival Billings. Crossing to England, he learns Billings plans to sign singer Anna Held.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., the son of a music professor, wants a life in show business instead of the family's music college. At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair he promotes the strongman Sandow, letting women touch the man's muscles, and beats his rival promoter Billings and Billings's belly dancer Little Egypt at drawing a crowd. A tour follows, then a voyage to England, where Flo learns that Billings is sailing to sign the French star Anna Held. Flo has lost his money at the gaming tables in Monte Carlo, yet he persuades Anna to take him as her manager, promising her publicity and a place among America's leading theatrical names. Her first New York appearance draws little notice, so Flo has twenty gallons of milk delivered to her apartment daily and refuses to pay the bill.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" set in The Great Ziegfeld was reported to cost US$220,000, and was a rotating volute 70 feet in diameter with 175 spiral steps that weighed 100 tons.
- When writer Macguire fell into disagreement with Universal over the studio's financial problems in February 1935, the entire production, including sets already built and musical arrangements, was sold to MGM for US$300,000.
- Miller and Lillian Lorraine threatened legal action if their names were so much as mentioned in the film, so Miller's character became Sally Manners and Lorraine's became Audrey Dane, played by Virginia Bruce.
- The dancer Farida Mazar sued the filmmakers for presenting Little Egypt as a lewd character; 14 witnesses from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair backed her, but the suit was dropped after she died of a heart attack.
- Billie Burke, Ziegfeld's widow and an actress under contract to the studio, objected to Myrna Loy playing her, since she could play herself, but the producers concluded she was not a big enough star to do so.
- The Great Ziegfeld was the first musical film in history for which a cast member won an Academy Award, when Luise Rainer took Best Actress for her portrayal of Anna Held, Ziegfeld's first wife.
- Will Rogers was to appear in The Great Ziegfeld, but he was killed in a plane crash in August 1935, and was played instead by stand-in A.A. Trimble.
- At just over three hours, The Great Ziegfeld was the longest talking film of its time; the only longer pictures, D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance, were both silent films.
